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Black Holes
Black Holes & Revelations is Muse's fourth studio album, released in Britain on July 3rd, 2006. The album contains 11 tracks and a bonus track, "Glorious", on the Japanese edition. Muse released five songs from Black Holes as singles: "Supermassive Black Hole", "Starlight", "Knights of Cydonia", "Invincible", and "Map of the Problematique" - in that order. Overview The album adopts a much less heavy, apocalyptic theme than its predecessor, Absolution, while still retaining the classic Muse feel, with plenty of arpeggios, falsetto and piano breaks. Black Holes has spawned the band's most successful single, "Supermassive Black Hole", and hit #1 in the charts in four countries, including Britain and Australia. "Take a Bow" "Take a Bow" is a classic synth-backed track which evolves into an almost orchestral "apocalyptic rock" epic, which also sounds a bit like the Star Wars theme tune, in places. The song is about corrupt world leaders and how they should take responsibility for their actions. The original title was "Hex". "Starlight" "Starlight" is an upbeat, romantic composition featuring a beautifully arpeggiated chorus and a rolling bassline. It is basically a love song, which Matt has, on occasions, dedicated to his girlfriend Gaia Polloni. "Supermassive Black Hole" "Supermassive Black Hole" is an evidently disco/funk-orientated song, and the band have described it as "electronica" and "inspired by Franz Ferdinand". "Supermassive" is the only song which features vocals from Dom when played live, and throughout the track, Bellamy is in falsetto mode. "Map of the Problematique" "Map of the Problematique" is one of the darker "Black Holes" tracks, and features a heavily distorted driving riff in addition to the perfectly complimentary synth loop. "MotP" describes challenges which the world may be forced to face in the future, and it also has references to space, apparently. "Soldier's Poem" "Soldier's Poem", one of Chris' favourite tracks on the album, has a mellow feel and a political theme, detailing how "there's no justice in the world and there never was", simply. "Invincible" "Invincible" features a beautifully composed slide guitar riff and a space rock solo in the interlude. "A romantic melody built around a marching beat" , "Invincible" remains a crowd favourite and is the "heart of album", according to Bellamy. "Assassin" "Assassin" features a stabby, System of a Down-esque riff which is accompanied by continuous thrash drumming and a heavy bass line, complimented by Bellamy's longing vocals. "Assassin" is said to just be an angry song which is used to relieve tension. "Exo-Politics" "Exo-Politics" features a very simple, out-there riff with a groovy bassline and simple hard rock vocals about a possible "orchestrated alien invasion" which is said to be a feasible event. "City of Delusion" "City of Delusion" is a very Mexican sounding song, featuring accompanying strings and a trumpet solo for good measure, all on top of changing styles of guitar melodies. "City" is about how some people are prepared to commit brutal acts in order to express their opinions to corrupt leaders. "Hoodoo" "Hoodoo" begins a quiet song, with an eeries guitar intro which quickly evolves into a quiet, romantic song. This is then followed by a driving piano melody featuring louder accompaniment. "Hoodoo" appears to be about longing for a future which is now impossible to acquire. "Knights of Cydonia" "Knights of Cydonia" is arguably one of the band's most driving, perfectly composed songs, featuring a long instrumental opening followed by a synthesized break and finally, the heavy protest of an outro. "Knights" is reminiscent of a spacey wild west-type movie from the future, featuring trumpets, laser beams, horses and synth-like guitars. The song is about lazy and corrupt leaders who need to be overthrown, a common theme of the album. "Glorious" "Glorious"... Tracklisting All songs were written by Matthew Bellamy, Christopher Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard, except where noted. #"Take a Bow" – 4:35 #"Starlight" – 3:59 #"Supermassive Black Hole" – 3:29 #"Map of the Problematique" – 4:18 #"Soldier's Poem" – 2:03 #"Invincible" – 5:00 #"Assassin" – 3:31 #"Exo-Politics" – 3:53 #"City of Delusion" – 4:48 #"Hoodoo" (Bellamy, Wolstenholme) – 3:34 #"Knights of Cydonia" – 6:06 #"Glorious" (JP bonus track) – 4:38 Personnel *Matthew Bellamy – synthesizers, lead vocals, guitars, piano, production *Christopher Wolstenholme – bass guitar, backing vocals, some synthesizers on tracks 4 and 10, production *Dominic Howard – drums, backing vocals on track 3, brief drum machine on track 4, percussion, production *Rich Costey – production Category:Albums Category:2006